Blog Cellar

Silvio Grasso Dolcetto D’Alba 2009

I was doing a little wine shopping with my sister, which just happens to be one of my favourite activities. As usual, she steered us straight to the Italian section. She picked up a bottle of Silvio Grasso Dolcetto D’Alba 2009 and told me I had to try it. Not only is it a handcrafted, artisan estate bottled wine, but Silvio Grasso vineyards are also “natural agriculture”, meaning chemical free with sustainable practices. She thought it was a noteworthy wine for the price, and had depleted multiple bottles with some of her girlfriends a few days ago.

Gorgeous dark ruby in colour, aromas of violets and subtle cherry rose from the glass. There was a little pleasant bite of tannin at the finish. And that was it, I had expected so much more and was clearly disappointed. I ignored my glass whilst finishing frying my quinoa cakes, and continued ignoring it till I was about halfway through dinner. When I absently picked my glass up, I was surprised how the wine had changed. The flavours had distinctly opened up and revealed some charming structure to the wine. The subtle floral taste rounded out to include soft plum and cherry flavours. The finish was now quite hearty, filled with minerally flint elements and robust roasted nuts flavours. I admired its spirit and enthusiastically finished the remainder.